School Talk is a lively six-page newsletter designed specifically to help classroom teachers bridge the gap between the ideal and the real world of teaching. Presented in a friendly, informal voice, each issue focuses on one particular topic and deals in practical terms with questions that teachers everywhere are asking. Since teachers choose the topics explored in each issue of School Talk, the conversation in upcoming newsletters will continue to focus on what really matters to teachers and learners in today's elementary classrooms. (Published October, January, April, and July.)

The July issue of School Talk is a tribute to Donald H. Graves and includes articles by two former recipients of the NCTE Donald H. Graves Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Writing. Ganna Maymind tells us about using journal writing to teach math to her first graders, and Lisa Cleaveland demonstrates how some very helpful charts support the new writers in her classroom. Mary Ellen Giacobbe leads off the issue by reflecting on what it was like to be teaching in the classroom where Donald Graves was doing his early research.

Recent Themes

April 2009: Writing in the Content Areas: Making it Real, Making it Theirs

January 2009: Nurturing Our Very Youngest Writers

October 2008: Looking Closely: Teaching Writing/Creating Writers

July 2008: Multicultural Literature and Social Change

April 2008: Grand Conversations across Texts

January 2008: Creating Readers: Talking about Books in Multicultural Classrooms